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is recorded, that he “ delighted to dwell in gardens/’ or before he ar- 
ranged and decorated the vineyard of Baalhaman.” When the hanging 
gardens of Semiramis had taken their place among the seven wonders of 
the world, Ninevah and Babylon were rapidly rising to a point of unsur¬ 
passed magnificence. Greece, too, had produced her greatest statesmen, 
philosophers, orators and artists, before philosophy was taught in her 
sacred groves, and before the era of those magnificent gardens which 
were enriched with temples, the statues of her heroes, and her triumphal 
monuments. The rural villas and imperial gardens of Rome, also, date 
their existence to a period subsequent to her splendid conquests, and her 
proud attaiments in science and art. Thus ornamental gardening appears 
to have been reserved for the last efforts of ancient genius. 
If we trace the progress of European civilization, we shall, also, find 
that horticulture, as an ornamental art, stands connected with the highest 
degree of national taste and refinement. The admired rural scenery of 
England, blending as it does the inimitable beauties of nature with the 
decorations of art, owes much to the polished taste of Addison and Pope, 
and the imagination of Milton. By the judicious criticisms of Addison,.. 
and the taste displayed by Pope in the model garden of his little villa, 
ornamental horticulture was brought back from a style of fantastic and 
artificial stiffness to the simplicity and beauty of nature. Through their 
influence nature was made the divine model of the gardener’s art. Milton 
also, in his peerless description of Eden, inspired a national taste for the 
beautiful in nature, and a faithful imitation of nature in art. How life¬ 
like is his description of that ° blissful bower” of human innocence. 
41 It was a place,” says this great delineator of nature : 
“ Chosen by the Sovereign Planter, when he framed 
All things to man’s delightful use; the roof 
Of thickest covert, was interwoven shade 
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew 
Of firm and fragrant leaf: on either side 
Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub. 
Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower, 
Iris all hues, roses and jessamine 
Reared high their flourishing heads between, and wrought 
Mosaic; under foot the violet, 
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay 
Broidered the ground, more colored than wiib stone 
Of costliest emblem.” 
